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Introduction: the contemporary art market between stasis and flux

Velthuis, O.

Publication date 2012 Document Version Final published version Published in Contemporary art and its commercial markets: a report on current conditions and future scenarios

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Citation for published version (APA): Velthuis, O. (2012). Introduction: the contemporary art market between stasis and flux. In M. Lind, & O. Velthuis (Eds.), Contemporary art and its commercial markets: a report on current conditions and future scenarios (pp. 17-50). Sternberg Press.

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Download date:30 Sep 2021 introduction the contemporary art market between stasis and flux olav velthuis The contemporary art market is in flux, or so it seems.1 Predominantly in the last two decades, new institutions have emerged, while the power dynam- ics between existing ones have changed. Artists and collectors from emerging economies in Asia and Latin America are rapidly making inroads into the global art field, resulting in a deterritorialization of the art mar- ket. New digital technologies are in the process of reconfiguring the ways art is marketed: the first online art fairs are operational, as Noah Horowitz discusses in this volume, and, especially at the top end of the market, sales are regularly taking place through deal- ers sending jpegs to anonymous collectors. More- over, the role of experts within the art market has been amended. The influence of public museums and other institutions whose stake in the art world seems to be untainted by monetary interests has declined, while the grip of ever-richer private collectors on the ca- reers of artists and the art world’s valuation regimes is becoming stronger. In this introduction I review these changes criti- cally. The evidence pointing at flux is pervasive: I will show that the interrelated trends of commercialization,

olav velthuis 17 globalization, and financialization have produced new their peers.”4 In pursuing this financial gain, contem- regimes of value within the market and have recon- porary artists have become increasingly savvy, often figured pre-existing market logics. Nevertheless, I in conjunction with art dealers, about developing their will subsequently make the case that the art market careers, aligning themselves with powerful taste mak- can be seen as a market in stasis as well. First of all ers, constructing a market for their work and cranking because key elements of its structure have remained up prices. Artistic autonomy has slipped from their intact since the modern art market was established minds, while the traditional taboo on catering to pre- in the second half of the nineteenth century; and existing demand has gradually eroded. secondly because the recent reconfigurations of this The increasingly commercial motivation of art- structure are reincarnations of the past. In order to ists is reflected in the type of work they make: eas- bring the equally valid accounts of flux and stasis in ily recognizable and digestible, iconic or provocative line, I will propose the notion of cyclical change to- images, often borrowed from popular culture, have wards the end of this introduction. come to dominate the market in the 2000s. A signifi- cant part of the artist’s production is now directed at commercialization one of the many art fairs his dealers are frequenting. These works, referred to bluntly as “art fair art,” are As in other markets for cultural goods, commercializa- moderate in size, which makes them easy to trans- tion is the dominant force driving change in the con- port and fit into the fair’s booth, and are in tune with temporary art market.2 This force is, in turn, embed- dominant market trends. In order to efficiently in- ded in, and the result of, wider societal developments crease production, artists are organizing their stu- which are beyond the scope of this introduction, such dio in a businesslike manner, with large numbers of as neoliberal policies directed at deregulation and studio assistants executing the master’s ideas. This privatization, a waning autonomy of fields of cultural enables these artists to free up time which can be production, and an erosion of cultural hierarchies devoted to marketing their work, exploring commer- such as the one between high and low culture.3 cial ventures, and maintaining a strong presence in Commercialization manifests itself in many dif- the media. Artists who exemplify this commercial- ferent ways in the art market. The motives of artists, ization trend include Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, collectors, and their intermediaries have supposedly Richard Prince, Maurizio Cattelan, or Damien Hirst. become more profit-oriented and less dedicated to Except for Cattelan, all of them are in the top ten creative or artistic goals. As the American cultural so- list of best-selling contemporary artists, computed ciologist Diane Crane put it: “[Until the 1990s], art- on the basis of their auction revenue (2010–2011).5 ists were motivated less by financial gain than by their Hirst, who at one point employed more than 120 as- aesthetic goals and assessments of their works by sistants, is on the chart of the wealthiest individuals in

introduction olav velthuis 18 19 Britain and Ireland, The Sunday Times Rich List, with turn acquisitions into cash once “their” artists’ star an estimated net worth of £215 million. The art critic rises, that many in the art world refer to them as deal- Robert Hughes characterizes the artist: “Hirst is ba- ers rather than collectors. Because of the public, sically a pirate, and his skill is shown by the way in spectacular character of an auction, and because which he has managed to bluff so many art-related their own low status within the art world prevents people, from museum personnel such as Tate’s them from getting access to coveted works of art at Nicholas Serota to billionaires in the New York real- the gallery, these collectors tend to do business at estate trade, into giving credence to his originality Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury. and the importance of his ‘ideas.’ This skill at manipu- The auction houses themselves, which have tra- lation is his real success as an artist.”6 ditionally hardly been interested in contemporary art, Buyers have likewise become increasingly profit- are now aggressively pursuing works that were made oriented. Traditional collectors, who acquire art with only a few years ago. They have recognized that more their eyes rather than their ears, follow an artist money is to be made with contemporary art, whose throughout his career, and who don’t repudiate art supply is infinite and whose prices have been rising with complex, multi-layered meaning structures, have more steeply than those of old or modern masters. been crowded out by new collectors who see art Christie’s therefore bought its way into the primary as an investment or as a status symbol. These new art market through the acquisition of the art gallery collectors have typically earned their fortunes in the Haunch of Venison. The successful Hirst sale at So- financial markets or the luxury goods industry. They theby’s in September 2008, where he auctioned off often lack in-depth knowledge of art, and frequently 223 works which came straight out of his studio for al- need to be assisted by art consultants to navigate the most $200 million, warned art dealers that the days of market. At times, their interest in art predominantly the old division of labor between the auction houses serves business purposes. Hedge fund managers, and the art galleries may be numbered. This was the for instance, may select works of art that enable them first time that an auction house had manifested itself so to construct, as Tom Wolfe put it, “the pose of a pi- clearly on the primary art market and an artist had de- rate”: the image of a daring, fearless financial market cided to bypass his art dealers so publicly. The Econ- trader. Art should, in other words, assist them in at- omist noted that with the sale, Hirst was “breaking the tracting new clients to their funds.7 Think of Hirst’s art market’s traditional rules.” Art critic Roger Bevan shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, which warned: “The final frontier protecting contemporary was bought by hedge fund manager Stephen Cohen art galleries from the relentless encroachment of the for $8 million. auction houses has been emphatically breached. Ambivalence surrounds the identities of some … Now that Damien has demolished the moral bar- of these new collectors, since they are so quick to rier of using auctions for distribution and profit, other

introduction olav velthuis 20 21 artists will follow suit.”8 While hardly any European tempts at “decommodifying” contemporary art. When or American artists have actually followed suit since a jpeg of a work is sent to multiple collectors who Hirst’s sale at Sotheby’s, in the emerging art markets respond by asking for its sales price, when a work of China and India it has been common practice for of art is presented as a fetish while the auctioneer artists to sell new works directly at auction.9 standing next to it calls off prices, or when a dozen Other organizational changes which have contrib- works are cramped into the booth of an art fair, art’s uted, along with the increasing dominance of the auc- commodity-character is hard to deny. As art critic tion houses, to the commercialization of art are the Jerry Saltz put it in critique of the art fair: “These days rise of the art fair and the Internet as a sales venue art fairs are perfect storms of money, marketability, (whether directly from the gallery’s website or through and instant gratification tent-city casinos where art is popular platforms such as artnet.com). The contribu- shipped in and parked for five days, while spectators tion of these three institutions to commercialization gawk as comped VIPs and shoppers roll the dice for has been social and cultural as well as symbolic. all to see.”12 Socially, the auction houses, the Internet, and the It would be naïve, however, to see commercializa- art fair have weakened the importance of social ties tion as a struggle between the contemporary art mar- and have promoted anonymous exchange. The net- ket’s new institutions and its traditional intermediary: works between artists, dealers, and collectors that the art dealer. The latter have themselves contributed the art market used to be embedded in, have, in other to commercialization. Dealers have become more words, been partly dissolved by these institutions.10 aggressive in marketing the work of the artists they Culturally, the auction house, the art fair, and the represent; they are accused of dropping artists more Internet have decoupled art from the evaluations by quickly once their work no longer sells and seducing cultural experts, conversations among peers, and di- artists away from their competitors once their careers rect interactions between market participants, which take off. As if they were players in the baseball or in the past defined a work of art and contributed to soccer leagues, transfer sums or hefty stipends are its meanings. As one artist remarked on a popular art sometimes paid to accomplish these moves. market weblog: “You simply cannot truly experience And while successful art dealers have relied on the complex artworks in an auction house. It’s just about resale of consecrated works of art on the secondary selling, and nothing else.” Instead, the artist contin- market for a long time as a major source of profit, these ues: “[I]t’s also important to actually look at the stuff, sales were usually conducted in the back rooms of the yourself, out of the studio, in a clean white space, and gallery, hidden from public view. Now dealers are more present your ideas to the world.”11 open about it and regularly bid at auction in person, Symbolically, the art fair, the auction house, and which suggests that their commercial activities on the Internet have derailed the art world’s traditional at- the secondary market have gained legitimacy.13 As a

introduction olav velthuis 22 23 result, in order to run a successful gallery, access to road to richness. Moreover, in China visual art has en- the financial resources which secondary market deal- joyed relative freedom from government interference, ing requires is becoming more important than a good at least compared to other forms of artistic expression eye for artistic quality. or to the oppressive cultural policies under Mao. A final manifestation of the art dealers’ commer- A global market architecture has enabled the new cialization is their development into multinational en- wealth of buyers in emerging economies to flow to terprises with “showrooms” in many of the world’s contemporary art produced in the West as well as the major art capitals. By doing so, they are now trying to old wealth of buyers in Europe and the United States monopolize the global market for the artists they rep- to find its way to new art produced in emerging art resent and cater to the demands of the new wealthy worlds. Sotheby’s and Christie’s now organize sales collectors in emerging economies. dedicated to art from India, Russia, China, or Latin America, and have opened branches in, among oth- globalization ers, the Middle East and Hong Kong. According to some estimates, in 2010 the auction market for fine Until recently, the art market was dominated by artists arts in China surpassed the American one, account- and art dealers from the United States and Europe ing for 33 percent of the world’s auction revenue. And (Germany in particular). Since the late 1990s, how- while in 2002, only one Chinese artist was part of the ever, its territories have vastly expanded, most nota- list of the world’s top 100 contemporary artists (com- bly to the new, large emerging economies of Brazil, puted on the basis of auction revenue), in 2010, half Russia, India, and China. The upper middle classes of the artists in the top ten were Chinese.15 of these countries, who accumulated vast amounts Apart from the auction houses, the art fairs have of wealth, have rapidly recognized art as an object of played a key role in matching global demand and sup- desire, a status symbol, or a potential investment. Be- ply. European and American fairs have seen new par- tween 2004 and 2009, the number of buyers from ticipants and visitors from emerging markets, while a the Middle East at Christie’s rose by 400 percent. host of fairs have been established in emerging art Nowadays, the share of high-net-worth individuals capitals such as Shanghai, New Delhi, São Paulo, from Latin America and Asia buying art is higher than Moscow, or Abu Dhabi. In 2011, Art Basel recognized that of their American counterparts.14 the long-term potential of the Asian art market when it By and large, due to this newly accumulated wealth, announced the acquisition of Art Hong Kong. local art worlds have developed or have been reinvigo- While the globalization of contemporary art has in rated in these countries, albeit in some, such as China, general been applauded because of the waning he- more dynamically than in others, like Russia. The artis- gemony of Western art worlds, some have been skep- tic profession has become recognized as a potential tical. They characterize the European and American

introduction olav velthuis 24 25 interest in art originating from emerging countries as a risk management tool: buying art allows investors neocolonial, because it emphasizes and essential- to diversify their portfolios. The founders of art invest- izes ethnic and cultural differences between regions. ment funds have been keen on referring to these stud- This means that artists from regions other than Eu- ies in their prospectuses, while some of their authors, rope and the United States are not fully appreciated such as the financial economist Michael Moses, have for their own artistic merits and are denied a stake in been actively involved themselves in building up an existing art historical canons. Others have criticized investment market for art.18 In this volume Suhail Malik art market interest in new “geoaesthetic regions” be- and Andrea Phillips point at a different motivation for cause it is driven by art investors seeking to broaden speculators to turn to art: the attraction of the mar- their collections in order to spread risk, analogous to ket’s “game of hide and seek,” which allows these the portfolio approach in financial markets.16 speculators to adopt a creative role themselves, while searching for the best-performing “blue-chip” artists. financialization The financialization of art has, however, been far from smooth or automatic. The process lacks legiti- In the first decade of the 2000s, fine art evolved into macy in both the art world and the financial commu- a recognizable asset category, which is implicated to- nity, albeit for different reasons. In the art world it has day in a wide range of financial transactions. Works been opposed by art dealers, collectors, and artists, of art are used as collateral in order to secure multi- who seek to shield art from financial concerns in order million-dollar bank loans, they are or have been part of to preserve its “sacred” character. For these actors, the portfolios of pension funds, and numerous invest- the art world and the financial markets are an instance ment funds that focus on art have been announced. of what Viviana Zelizer calls “Hostile Worlds”: they As the cultural economist Clare McAndrew claims, assume that an intrinsic conflict exists between art “[t]he growth of art funds and other professional art and finance and that the incommensurable value of investment vehicles bears out the fact that both in- art is at risk once it is standardized and transformed dividuals and institutions have now fully embraced into a speculative object.19 As one dealer put it, in- the notion of art as an asset class for investment.”17 vestment funds are “dangerous, and unsafe for the In short, the art market has become financialized. market. They have not been set up for the right rea- The investor’s interest is puzzling since a large sons and are destroying the notion of what art stands number of economic studies suggest that art per- for, aesthetic beauty, and to be admired in one’s pri- forms poorly if compared to “ordinary” investments in vate collection or in a museum.”20 stocks and bonds. However, a small number of stud- Moreover, investments in art may destabilize a ies claim that art actually outperforms its alternatives, market that is characterized by uncertainty regard- is a good hedge against inflation, or can be used as ing artistic and economic value. Art dealers seek to

introduction olav velthuis 26 27 stabilize the market by setting prices according to changing regimes of value widely shared pricing scripts. These scripts prompt them to increase prices in a piecemeal fashion. In ad- Propelled by commercialization, globalization, and fi- dition, price decreases should be avoided at all times nancialization the regimes of value of the art market because they signal a lack of quality to collectors and have changed as well. These regimes govern the way harm the self-esteem of artists. The stabilizing efforts value is established, which people have the authority that dealers make through these scripts can be ham- and credibility to partake in this process, and which pered by investors reselling their holdings at auction, criteria and tools they apply.23 Value in the art mar- which in turn produces price volatility. Because of the ket used to be established by what Lucien Karpik has signaling effect of prices and price decreases in par- called “an expert-opinion regime,” which “rests on ticular, art dealers seek to avoid this volatility.21 choices made by experts entrusted with selecting the The financial community has not recognized art as best singular products.” Who those experts are, and a valid asset class either. Investors point at structural how power is distributed among them, has historically barriers to the financialization of art, such as the art been subject to change. Harrison and Cynthia White market’s lack of liquidity and its non-transparent char- have argued that the art critic by and large determined acter. However, with the growing financial interest, art’s value when the modern market came into being these barriers have been partially removed in a pro- in nineteenth-century France. According to Raymonde cess of standardization, scientization, and profession- Moulin, curators became the main experts in the twen- alization. As happened in the past in “ordinary” finan- tieth century. By selecting an artist for a group or solo cial markets, passion and intuition have slowly been show, by singling out works of art to be acquired for a replaced in the art market by calculated, informed museum’s permanent collection, or by awarding prizes decision-making assisted by increasingly abundant at events such as the Venice Biennale, these experts flows of information, increasingly sophisticated mar- enhance the reputation of artists. Or to put it in the ket devices, and new stocks of knowledge.22 This terms of the late French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, process has involved a wide range of actors, such they produce belief in the artist’s work.24 as academic economists, pension funds, auction While the experts do not have a direct interest data providers, art market research companies, art in the market themselves (or at least are not sup- appraisers, legal services, insurance companies, and posed to), their judgments and selections do have accountants. Their often concerted efforts have ren- an important impact on the market: they determine dered the art market more transparent and predict- the artist’s commercial credibility.25 Symbolic value able. Moreover, by adopting organizational blueprints can in other words be exchanged for economic val- from the world of finance, these actors have sought to ue, as Isabelle Graw’s contribution to this volume legitimize the financialization of art. explicates in detail.

introduction olav velthuis 28 29 Recently, however, the market’s regime of value able to establish their own museums and to hire a has come under pressure. The role of the (public) ex- professional staff, which assists them in manipulat- pert has been gradually replaced by the (private) col- ing the market’s wheels of fortune. lector. In Europe and the United States super-wealthy The shift to a dealer-collector system has been re- collectors such as Charles Saatchi or François-Henri inforced by globalization: in many of the new emerging Pinault now determine artistic reputations through art markets a dealer-critic system was never estab- the acquisitions they make. As a result, the dealer- lished to begin with. Countries like China and India, critic system, which rests on a distinction between for instance, until recently lacked public, non-profit artistic valuation by experts and economic valuation institutions with a focus on contemporary art and had by dealers, has been replaced by what Graw calls a few independent experts who were not directly tied to dealer-collector system or what Nachoem Wijnberg the market.28 In Brazil and Russia, such public institu- and Gerda Gemser call a market selection system.26 tions have existed for a long time, but nowadays they Within the new regime, expert judgment no longer find themselves in dire straits because their govern- has a significant impact on the market. Economic val- ments set different priorities. ues now determine artistic reputations rather than the The rise of a dealer-collector system has not only other way around. Unsurprisingly, experts themselves been lamented by experts because of its cultural con- have lamented this. As the art critic Adrian Searle put sequences, but also because of its social precondi- it in The Guardian: “Never has money been so power- tions. This new regime results from a persistent rise ful. Never have so many artists got so rich, and never of inequality in both developed and developing coun- has there been such alarming stuff on sale. Never tries. Andrea Fraser notes, for instance, that the art have critics felt so out of the loop.”27 market has performed best in countries where income The main explanation for the regime change is inequality has risen strongly, such as the US, the UK, the large influx of private money in the last decade. and China. Fraser relates the increased inequality to Art markets may not have been directly affected by neoliberal, anti-tax, and anti-government politics, de- neoliberal policies directed at deregulating markets regulation of financial markets, and “attacks” on orga- (if only because the art market is one of contem- nized labor in these countries. She concludes: “what porary capitalism’s least regulated markets to be- has been good for the art world has been disastrous gin with). But an indirect effect has been that bud- for the rest of the world.”29 gets of public institutions have been, at best, fro- zen, while those of private collectors have rapidly art market logic increased. These collectors now have acquisition budgets for contemporary art which easily surpass Along with its regime of value, the art market’s logic of those of public museums. In fact, they have been action is in flux. As a rich sociological literature shows,

introduction olav velthuis 30 31 these logics serve as sense-making constructs der Post wrote in the Financial Times: “Today art and for the market’s participants, guide them in deci- artists are attracting the fans, the adulation, the atten- sion-making processes and stipulate which market tion and the bank balances that were once the terrain strategies are considered reasonable and appropri- of rock stars.”32 “Hot” artists as well as their dealers ate. One source of change is the gradual imitation have become a mainstay in lifestyle magazines and of the logics of other markets or societal spheres. In have actively cultivated an aura of celebrity around the case of the art market, the entertainment and the themselves through the provocative statements they fashion industry have recently served as templates.30 make, the extraordinary outfits they wear, or their ex- The boundaries between these fields have become treme behavior. At the same time, celebrities from the blurred in at least three ways. movie industry such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Leonardo First of all, the life cycle of a contemporary artist DiCaprio, or Brad Pitt have taken an interest in con- has shortened to such an extent that the art world now temporary art and mingle with members of the art resembles the fashion industry, where styles change world at gallery openings or art fair parties.33 every year, along with the artists who are considered Thirdly, the art market has adopted the fashion to be in vogue. The fairs have evolved as the art market market’s logic of branding: appreciation of an art- equivalent of the fashion industry’s weeks in Milan, Par- work’s visual aspects or its meanings have been re- is, and London. They are a response to a more general placed by an obsession with the name of the artist, event culture, which is exemplified by the proliferation which functions analogous to a commercial brand.34 of film festivals or art biennials.31 Within this event cul- The contemporary artist has transformed into a brand ture, the consumption (not necessarily acquisition) of manager whose main occupation is the production contemporary art is packaged as a social and cultural and diffusion of commercial propaganda. Not coinci- experience, livened up by the artistic performances dentally, one of the market’s most successful artists, and round-table discussions of experts, which have Murakami, has collaborated intensively with super- now become a standard element of the art fair format. brand Louis Vuitton. Fashion moguls such as Pinault, The fairs, along with the auction houses, have contrib- Bernard Arnault (CEO of LVMH, the parent company uted to the construction of the market’s new logic of of Louis Vuitton and dozens of other luxury brands), action: they have provided incentives to artists to focus and Miuccia Prada are now among the market’s most on short-run profits, creating art that is fashionable, important collectors. And within many art districts and establishing a quick career rather than on produc- in New York, London, or Berlin, galleries intermingle ing an independent oeuvre of lasting quality. with fashion boutiques whose frosted-glass exte- Secondly, contemporary art has taken over the riors, minimal interior design, and lack of price tags role played by pop music as a locus around which fan attached to the goods on display make them hard to cultures and celebrity worlds develop. As Lucia van distinguish from their neighbors.

introduction olav velthuis 32 33 a market in stasis account holds. Think, for instance, of Christopher Wool, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, or Gerhard But there is another tale to be told about the contem- Richter, whose work regularly sells for seven-digit porary art market. Countering the manifold accounts prices. The latter is currently the best-selling con- by scholars and journalists as well as market par- temporary artist at auction. Incidentally, during a ticipants of profound, irreversible change, I will now press conference at the opening of his 2011 retro- defend the thesis that the underlying structure of the spective in London’s Tate Gallery, Richter called the art market has nevertheless remained largely intact. art market “daft” and the price level for his own work The market’s principal actors continue in their roles “just as absurd as the banking crisis.”36 while two key intermediaries, art galleries and auc- Even the way new works of art are marketed is by tion houses, vie for market share. New York is still the and large identical to the way this happened through- center of the art market, where the largest and most out the twentieth century. Art dealers continue to rep- influential art dealers are headquartered and the main resent a limited number of artists on a more or less per- contemporary art auctions are organized. Since at manent basis, and try to make a market for their artist’s least the 1990s, Art Basel’s role as the market’s most work by inserting it into the taste-making machinery of important art fair has not been challenged. And while the art world. They emphasize that, along with the role many new auction houses have emerged in local art of private collectors, the attention and interest of pub- markets,35 the reign of the two dominant ones on the lic museums, independent curators, and critics work- global market, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, has been un- ing for international art magazines such as Artforum disputed for decades if not centuries. or large national newspapers, or the inclusion in in- Although it is certainly true that auction houses ternational curated shows such as the documenta have become more aggressive in pursuing contem- or the Venice Biennale, continue to shape an artist’s porary art in the last decade, for most artists this career. Indeed, recent research on art markets bears development is hardly relevant since their work has out the role of experts in the simultaneous construc- no resale market whatsoever. Auction houses are tion of artistic and economic value, of reputations and simply not interested in selling it, since it lacks a liq- prices.37 In short, a modified version of the dealer- uid market with a price level high enough to cover critic system still seems to be operational. While sys- the marketing and auctioning costs. And for the tematic evidence for a shift towards a dealer-collector small group of artists whose work does come up at system is lacking, anecdotal evidence suggests the auction, it would be hard to maintain that their mar- opposite: many of the new super-wealthy collectors kets are all subject to a celebrity or fashion logic buy works of art when the careers of their makers are or that the critical acclaim for these artists is pre- already firmly established. In other words, they be- dominantly based on their market prices, as the flux- have more as taste-followers than as taste-makers.

introduction olav velthuis 34 35 The economic power of these collectors may be enor- Another way to tell the tale of market stasis is by mous; their cultural power is limited. comparing recent developments in the art market To what extent the art market is truly global nowa- to those in other cultural industries such as music days, is also up for debate, as the contributions to this or journalism. In journalism, blogs and other forms volume by Alain Quemin and Stefano Baia Curioni ex- of amateur news gathering have become significant emplify. Although Western art dealers buy into the ide- competitors to the traditional media. The latter are si- ology of internationalism which predominates in the art multaneously struggling with their business models, world, and maintain that nationality does not factor in now that content is available for free online. In both their selection of artists, their practices have remained the movie and the music industry, amateur consumers by and large local: they have a local clientele and pre- who express their opinions on widely read websites dominantly represent artists who have the same na- have undermined the authority of professional critics. tionality as their own.38 Likewise, the art markets that Other websites, such as YouTube, provide amateur have emerged in, for instance, India and China are producers with a platform for the distribution of their hardly integrated globally. While a small group of Chi- own creations. nese artists working in the styles of cynical realism and In some cultural industries, demand is increasingly political pop, such as Zhang Xiaogang or Yue Minjun, shaped in new ways through digital technology, such have international reputations and a following of Euro- as collaborative filtering, which has revolutionized pean and American collectors willing to pay six- and the consumption of, for instance, books and music: seven-digit prices for their work, the majority remains recommendations are made on the basis of algo- unknown outside of the country’s national borders. rithms which match one consumer’s taste patterns Instead, they are bought by local collectors through with those of others.40 Peer-to-peer services and new local intermediaries such as Poly International Auction. platforms such as iTunes have broken the power of As far as a global art market does exist, artists, deal- a limited number of global distributors in the music ers, and collectors from Europe and the United States industry.41 What all these trends point at is an erosion continue to dominate it. It operates through a small of the status of traditional intermediaries within the number of auction houses and powerful galleries such market, a process of disintermediation which allows as Gagosian, Pace, David Zwirner, or Hauser & Wirth. for direct exchange between producers and consum- At the most prestigious art fairs, such as Art Basel, ers of cultural products and new patterns of taste for- the overwhelming number of art dealers still come from mation within cultural industries. a small number of Western countries. Ulf Wuggenig In the art market, however, the equivalents of these notes in a recent study of art collecting that the United trends are by and large absent. The Internet has so States and Europe continue to dominate ARTnews’ an- far hardly had a profound impact on distribution prac- nual list of the world’s 200 most important collectors.39 tices—amateurs have not questioned the authority of

introduction olav velthuis 36 37 cultural experts nor have they found new legitimate and dealers in other circuits, who seek to resist the platforms for their own creations. And although the superstar circuit and want to avoid being identified functioning of curators has been scrutinized and cur- with it.44 rent intermediation practices have been criticized, Commercialization, financialization, or the adop- on the art market there are no signs whatsoever of tion of a celebrity logic are much harder to trace in, disintermediation.42 Taste may now be shaped in part for instance, a circuit for video art (which has its own, by new agents such as private collectors, but that much less spectacular art fairs in New York and Lon- development has done little to weaken the art mar- don: Moving Image) or in a circuit for large-scale in- ket’s elitist character. At most, the type of elitism has stallations, discussed in this volume by Karen van den changed, from cultural to economic. Berg and Ursula Pasero. The rise of the latter circuit has partially been made possible by the art market’s circuits of commerce boom of the 2000s, but its business practices and production models far from coincide with those of the While these two accounts of the art market’s re- market’s top circuit.45 cent history—flux versus stasis—seem contradictory, More generally, in the majority of galleries in Eu- there are at least two ways to partially reconcile them. rope and the United States, works of art continue to First of all through the notion of circuits of commerce: sell for modest prices. These works resist commer- rather than conceiving of the art market as a single, cialization because they enter the commodity phase, homogeneous entity, one needs to recognize that it to put it in the terms of anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, is in fact composed of a plethora of smaller circuits, only once: after the gallery sale, collectors hold on which each have their own actors, business practices, to them, if only because an active resale market for regime of value, and logic of action.43 The flux- them is non-existent. Their makers need side jobs in account is by and large an account of the top circuit order to make ends meet, and lead anything but a of the market, which is widely covered in the media. celebrity life. For the collectors buying in these mar- It revolves around a small number of art stars such kets, “love of art” continues to be the prime motive. as Koons, Prince, Catellan, and Hirst, whose works In fact, Wuggenig notes in a survey of art collecting achieve top prices at auction and are coveted by a that commercial and prestige-oriented goals are still new global economic elite. The trends emerging in widely considered illegitimate.46 this circuit do not reflect the wider art market, nor A second way of reconciling the two accounts is have mechanisms been identified within the flux- by conceptualizing change in the art market in cyclical account which allow trends in this circuit to spill over rather than linear terms: the market’s recent recon- or trickle down into other circuits. In fact, these trends figurations are reincarnations of the past. Commer- may have inspired so-called boundary work by artists cialization and financialization already had an impact

introduction olav velthuis 38 39 on the art market during the boom years of the 1960s The interest in and framing of art as investment is a and 1980s. In the latter decade, the German neo- recurring phenomenon as well. In the early twentieth Expressionists and the Italian Transavantgarde artists century, the forerunner of an art investment fund was were featured repeatedly in lifestyle magazines.47 Crit- established by French financier and art lover André ics dismissed the work of Julian Schnabel as kitsch, Level, who pooled together money from twelve other while art market observers criticized the hyped na- investors to found the Peau de L’Ours (Skin of the ture of his career and predicted that he would soon Bear) scheme. The funds were used to buy more than be forgotten. The work of these celebrity artists was 100 works of art from artists such as Picasso and marketed aggressively by media-savvy art dealers like Matisse, who were still in the early stages of their ca- Bruno Bischofberger and Mary Boone. The market’s reers. In 1914, the entire collection was liquidated. boom was caused by the influx of new money from The sales prices for the works were, on average, qua- Wall Street and the emerging economy of Japan, not druple the original acquisition prices.49 unlike the role of hedge fund money and BRIC-wealth As early as the late 1950s, art was discussed in in the production of the 2000s boom.48 investment terms in popular magazines and newspa- The influence of private collectors on the art mar- pers such as Fortune and The New York Times. Brit- ket is hardly new either. In the past, supercollectors ish scholar Gerald Reitlinger wrote in The Economics like German chocolate manufacturer Peter Ludwig, of Taste, a three-volume historical analysis of the art Italian Count Panza di Biumo, or New York taxi tycoon market, that “[b]y the middle of the 1950s, after two Robert Scull in the 1960s and 1970s, were key in es- world wars, a world financial depression, and a world tablishing the careers of contemporary artists or even wave of currency inflation, ‘art as an investment’ had entire movements such as Pop Art. Charles Saatchi lost any stigma that it might once have possessed.” In has been a presence in the contemporary art world the boom years of the 1960s a handful of art invest- since the 1970s, and so have his aggressive market ment funds were established, while in 1967, The Times practices. For instance, in the 1980s he sold a large of London made art explicitly comparable to stocks by number of works by the Italian Transavantgarde artist publishing an art index which tracked auction prices, Sandro Chia, which he had acquired only years be- akin to the Dow Jones index. As a journalist remarked fore. By doing so he depressed the artist’s price level with hindsight: “By demonstrating that pictures could at auction and, according to Chia, ruined his career. be thought of in this way, the index guaranteed that Like Arnault or Pinault today, some of those collectors they would be. It presided over a vertiginous rise in established their own museums (Ludwig eventually the value of art, as moneyed individuals, corporations, had a dozen of them). Others exerted their influence even pension funds found that they could justify the on the art world through tax-deductible donations acquisition of a painting in exactly the same way that to museums. they could a block of shares.”50 Likewise, the 1980s

introduction olav velthuis 40 41 saw a broad range of investment activity, aided by the The boom of the art market in the 1960s coincided influx of money from the financial markets. with the European and American economies’ miracle Reflecting the further professionalization of the years, the (pre-crisis) 2000s, which has been called sector, international banks such as Citigroup became called ‘the great moderation,’ a period of high growth involved. These banks started to recognize the art combined with low inflation. Likewise, the slump of collections of their wealthy customers as part of their the art market in the 1970s coincided with the econ- financial investment portfolios and offered art advi- omy’s downturn due to the oil crisis. And while the sory services as a tool in customer management for economy in the 1980s was far from buoyant, the private banking. As the curators of the 1989 edition stock market did boom, even after its short-lived crash of the Whitney Biennial noted in their catalogue text: (“Black Monday”) in 1987. The economic explanation “[c]apitalism has overtaken contemporary art, quan- of cyclical change within the art market has its limita- tifying and reducing it to the status of a commodity. tions however. The bust of the art market of the early Ours is a system adrift in mortgaged goods and ob- 1970s, for instance, preceded the oil crisis, while in sessed with accumulation.”51 2010–2011 the art market continued its boom in spite of severe economic and financial turmoil in Europe cyclical change and the United States. A second determinant may be identified in coun- The upshot of this introduction is not to deny that the tervailing or self-correcting tendencies within the art art market is in the middle of an era of flux. But its market itself: trying to protect what they consider as character may be more cyclical than linear. Moreover, the proper way to deal in art, market participants “cor- the changes the market has been going through are rect” behavior by developing or returning to a more concentrated in specific circuits. Their impact on the sober business repertoire in times of excess commer- market in its entirety has been uneven. Instead of cialization, or, conversely, exploit profit opportunities continuous, unambiguous processes of commercial- and pursue a more aggressive business repertoire ization and financialization, we have seen periods of in times of excess sobriety. For instance, during the strengthening followed by periods of weakening and 2000s dealers became increasingly critical of art at times even a reversal of these processes through- fairs and tried to lure collectors back to the gallery’s out the history of modern art markets. “home base” by organizing collective gallery week- A detailed analysis of what drives these cycles is ends. Moreover, many started frowning upon the com- beyond the scope of this introduction. However, at mercial success of Young British Artists or members least three potential determinants, with interrelated of the Leipziger Schule. Such self-correcting tenden- causal impact on the art market, can be identified: first cies make sense from a Bourdieuian point of view: of all, cycles in the real and in the financial economy.52 the commercial exploitation of artists or artistic styles

introduction olav velthuis 42 43 devours them of their status-enhancing potential. As the contemporary art market in a result, some collectors and dealers are prompted to ten years from now search for unconsecrated, non-commercial artists. By doing so, they accumulate symbolic capital.53 During the second half of the twentieth century, each Finally, we should not exclude that cyclical change art market cycle lasted approximately twenty years: within the art market is driven by artistic trends them- ten years for a boom period, another ten years for selves. It is noteworthy that the boom eras of the art the bust. Assuming that this trend continues (which market were dominated by relatively accessible styles it probably won’t) and that we are now at the end of such as Pop Art in the 1960s, expressive, figurative a boom era (which has already been interrupted by painting in the 1980s, and the spectacular, popular the short-lived crash in late 2008 and 2009), in ten culture-oriented art of the 2000s. The downturn of years from now the art market will be recovering from the 1970s coincided with the rise of less marketable the big bust of the 2010s. By that time its institutional styles such as Minimalism and performance art, while architecture will seem to have been thoroughly recon- video art came of age after the market’s bust in the figured. The art market will surely be more global. But early 1990s. if globalization within other cultural industries may It would attest to economic reductionism (if not plain serve as an example, it is unlikely to resemble a “flat cynicism) to explain the rise of these artistic styles in eco- world,” to speak in the terms of the American journalist nomic terms exclusively, as an opportunistic response to Thomas Friedman, in which distance does not matter, latent demand (during a boom era) or absence thereof artists migrate more or less randomly across borders, (during a downturn) within the art market. and works of art are bought and sold irrespective of The opposite also holds: new artistic styles, which the nationality of their producers and consumers. are born out of contingent and relatively autonomous While the top circuit of the market may indeed be- artistic developments, create their own demand. Mini- come deterritorialized, the more likely scenario for the malism and Conceptual Art in the 1970s engendered remainder (read: vast majority) of artists, collectors, a different type of collector than neo-Expressionism and their intermediaries is the development of rela- and the Transavantgarde in the 1980s. They man- tively autonomous regional art centers (think of São aged to induce their own logics of action and valua- Paulo, Beijing, and Johannesburg), which are only tion regimes. Cyclical change in the art market is, in partially interlinked through a global framework. In this other words, intricately related to the rise and fall of multipolar art world, regional markets will each have artistic styles. The current fashion and celebrity logic their own logics, internal dynamics, regimes of value, make sense from that perspective. But as the careers and key players, not unlike centers for movie produc- of celebrity artists wane, so will the market culture tion in what used to be peripheral regions, such as that served them. India (Bollywood) or Nigeria (Nollywood).54

introduction olav velthuis 44 45 notes 8 “The Shark’s Last Move,” The Econo- Likewise, digital technologies will be more widely mist, September 11, 2008; Roger used and will be seen as legitimate within the art mar- 1 Support from the Dutch Science Bevan, “Damien Hirst is Rewriting Foundation (NWO) is gratefully the Rules of the Market,” The Art ket, resulting in flourishing online art fairs and new acknowledged. A small number of Newspaper, August 1, 2008. commercial portals for contemporary art. But the tac- paragraphs in this introduction have 9 See, e.g., Olav Velthuis, “Damien’s been adapted from Olav Velthuis Dangerous Idea: Selling Contem- tile character of a work of art as well as the dense and Erica Coslor, “Financialization porary Art at Auction,” in The Worth social interactions between artists, collectors, and of Art Markets,” in Handbook of the of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in Sociology of Finance, eds. Karin the Economy, eds. Jens Beckert and dealers that are a sine qua non of art markets, will Knorr Cetina and Alex Preda (Ox- Patrik Aspers (Oxford: Oxford Uni- ford: Oxford University Press, 2012); versity Press, 2011), 179–200; constrain the Internet’s impact. Olav Velthuis, “Markets,” in Contem- Barbara Pollack, The Wild, Wild If the fate of dozens of art investment companies porary Art: Themes and Histories, East: An American Art Critic’s 1989 to the Present, eds. Alexander Adventures in China (Hong Kong: established since the late 1960s is an indicator—ex- Dumbadze and Suzanne Hudson Timezone 8, 2010). cept for a handful, all of them failed—the financializa- (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 10 Karl Polanyi, The Great Transforma- forthcoming). tion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1944 tion of art in ten years from now will turn out to be a 2 See, e.g., David Hesmondhalgh, The [1957]); Don Thompson, “Art Fairs: cyclical phenomenon at best: talk of art as an asset Cultural Industries, 2nd ed. (London, The Market as Medium,” in Negotiat- Los Angeles, and New Delhi: Sage, ing Values in the Creative Industries: class surfaces when rapidly rising prices attract gold- 2007); Marc Verboord, “Commer- Fairs, Festivals and Competitive cialisering, culturele consecratie en Events, eds. Brian Moeran and diggers to the market, and wanes after the market bestsellerlijstsucces in het Franse, Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen (Cam- goes bust. In short, underneath a changing surface Duitse en Amerikaanse literaire bridge: Cambridge University Press, veld, 1970-2007,” Sociologie, no. 1 2011), 59–72. the art market’s structure is remarkably resilient. In (2010): 46–75. 11 Art market blog by the New York art 2022, it will look like today, or for that matter, like it did 3 Susanne Janssen, “Vervagende dealer Edward Winkleman, grenzen: De classificatie van cultuur http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot a century and a half ago, when modern art as well as in een open samenleving,” Boekman: .com/2008/09/soul-searching.html its markets were born. tijdschrift voor kunst, cultuur en (accessed October 2011). beleid 65 (2005): 6–20. 12 Jerry Saltz, “Feeding Frenzy,” artnet 4 Diana Crane, “Reflections on the magazine (February 2005), Global Art Market: Implications for the www.artnet.com/magazine/features Sociology of Culture,” Sociedade e /jsaltz/saltz2-2-05.asp (accessed Estado 24, no. 2 (2009): 333; October 2011). Saltz’ essay ap- Isabelle Graw, High Price: Art Be- peared before in The Village Voice; tween the Market and Celebrity Cul- see also Sarah Thornton, Seven ture (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2009). Days in the Art World (New York: 5 Artprice, Le marché de l’art contem- Norton, 2008). porain: Contemporary Art Market 13 Graw, High Price. 2010/2011: The Artprice Annual 14 Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, “World Report (Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d’Or: Wealth Report” (2009). Artprice, 2011), 64. 15 Artprice, Le marché de l’art contem- 6 David Cohen, “Inside Damien Hirst’s porain 2010/2011. Factory,” London Evening Standard, 16 Cf. Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van August 30, 2007; Robert Hughes, Damme, eds., World Art Studies: “Day of the Dead,” Guardian, Sep- Exploring Concepts and Approaches tember 13, 2008. (Amsterdam: Valiz, 2008); Hans 7 Tom Wolfe, “The Pirate Pose,” Belting and Andrea Buddensieg, Portfolio Magazine (April 2007); eds., The Global Art World: Audi- Olav Velthuis “Accounting for Taste,” ences, Markets, and Museums (Ost- Artforum (April 2008): 305–09. fildern: Hatje Cantz, 2009); Larissa introduction 46 47 — Buchholz and Ulf Wuggenig, “Cul- — The Capco Institute Journal of Fi- — (2000): 323–29. — market with an auction revenue of tural Globalization Between Myth nancial Transformation 24 (2008): 5. 27 Ulf Wuggenig, “Attached by an $88 million (2010–2011), more than and Reality: The Case of the Con- 21  See Olav Velthuis, “Symbolic Umbilical Cord of Gold,” Texte zur Phillips de Pury’s worldwide revenue; temporary Visual Arts,” Art-e-fact, no. Meanings of Prices: Constructing Kunst 83 (2011): 64. As the New see Artprice, Le marché de l’art 4 (2006), http://artefact.mi2.hr/_a04 the Value of Contemporary Art in York art critic Jerry Saltz put it: “At contemporain 2010/2011. /lang_en/theory_buchholz_en.htm Amsterdam and New York Galleries,” no time in the last 50 years has what 36  Richter is quoted in a report on the (accessed August 2011); for a dis- Theory & Society 32, no. 2 (2003): an art critic writes had less effect on press conference by wire service cussion of “geoaesthetic regions,” 181–215; Erica Coslor, “Hostile the market than now.” Saltz is cited Reuters: www.reuters.com/article see Joaquín Barriendos Rodríguez, Worlds and Questionable in Adrian Searle, “Critical Condition: /2011/10/04/us-gehardrichter “Geopolitics of Global Art: The Speculation.” Has Big Money Replaced the Pun- -market-idUSTRE7932RF20111004 Reinvention of Latin America as a 22  See, e.g., Alex Preda, Framing Fi- dit as the True Authority in the Art (last accessed November 2011); on Geoaesthetic Region,” in The Global nance: The Boundaries of Markets World?,” Guardian, March 18, 2008. Richter’s market, see “Selling Art World, eds. Hans Belting and and Modern Capitalism (Chicago: 28  See, e.g., Barbara Pollack, The Wild, Gerhard Richter: The Bold Stan- Andea Buddensieg (Ostfildern: Hatje University of Chicago Press, 2009); Wild East. dard,” The Economist, October 10, Cantz, 2009), 98–114. Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not 29  Andrea Fraser, “L’1%, c’est moi,” 2011. In 2010, the worldwide auction 17 Clare McAndrew, Globalisation and a Camera: How Financial Models Texte zur Kunst 83 (2011): 122; for revenue of works by Richter totalled the Art Market: Emerging Economies Shape Markets (Cambridge, MA: the correlation between the art mar- $76,9 million. and the Art Trade in 2008 (Helvoirt: MIT Press, 2006). ket and inequality, Fraser refers to 37  See, e.g., Jens Beckert and Jörg TEFAF, 2009), 27. 23  Cf. Arjun Appadurai, “Introduction: William Goetzmann, Luc Renneboog, Rössel, “Kunst und Preise: Reputa- 18 A study frequently referred to as Commodities and the Politics of and Christophe Spaenjers, “Art and tion als Mechanismus der Reduktion supportive of investing in art is Jian- Value,” in The Social Life of Things: Money,” American Economic Review von Ungewissheit am Kunstmarkt,” ping Mei and Michael Moses, “Art Commodities in Cultural Perspec- 101, no. 3 (2010): 222–26; cf. Diana Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und as an Investment and the Underper- tive, ed. Arjun Appadurai (Cam- Crane, “Reflections on the Global Art Sozialpsychologie 56, no. 1 (2004): formance of Masterpieces,” bridge: Cambridge University Press, Market,” 352. 32–50; Michael Hutter et al., “Two American Economic Review 92, 1986), 3–63. 30 On logics of action see, e.g., Games in Town: A Comparison of no. 5 (2002): 1656–88. For a recent 24  Lucien Karpik, Valuing the Unique: Stephen Barley and Pamela Tolbert, Dealer and Auction Prices in Contem- overview of the literature, see William The Economics of Singularities “Institutionalization and Structura- porary Visual Art Markets,” Journal of N. Goetzmann, Luc Renneboog, (Princeton: Princeton University tion: Studying the Links between Cultural Economics 31, no. 4 (2007): and Christophe Spaenjers, “Art and Press, 2010), 101; Harrison C. White Action and Institution,” Organization 247–61; Tamar Yogev, “The Social Money,” American Economic Review and Cynthia A. White, Canvases Studies 18, no. 1 (1997), 93–117; Construction of Quality: Status Dy- 101, no. 3 (2011): 222–26. For the and Careers: Institutional Change Patricia H. Thornton, Markets from namics in the Market for Contempo- role of economics in the construc- in the French Painting World (New Culture: Institutional Logics and rary Art,” Socio-Economic Review 8 tion of an investment market for art, York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965); Organizational Decisions in Higher (2010): 511–36; Susanne Schönfeld see Olav Velthuis and Erica Coslor, Raymonde Moulin, “The Construc- Education Publishing (Stanford: and Andreas Reinstaller, “The Effects “Financialization of Art Markets,” tion of Art Values,” International Stanford University Press, 2004). of Gallery and Artist Reputation on in Handbook of the Sociology of Sociology 9, no. 1 (1994): 5–12; 31 See Brian Moeran and Jesper Prices in the Primary Market for Art: A Finance. Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cul- Strandgaard Pedersen, eds., Ne- Note,” Journal of Cultural Economics 19 Viviana A. Zelizer, “The Purchase of tural Production: Essays on Art and gotiating Values in the Creative 31, no. 2 (2007): 143–53. Intimacy,” Law & Social Inquiry 25, Literature (Cambridge: Polity Press, Industries; on the link between art 38 Olav Velthuis, “Globalization of no. 3 (Summer 2000): 817–48; Erica 1993); see also Alan Bowness, The and fashion, see Elizabeth Currid, Markets for Contemporary Art: Why Coslor, “Hostile Worlds and Ques- Conditions of Success: How the The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Local Ties Remain Dominant in tionable Speculation: Recognizing Modern Artist Rises to Fame (Lon- Art, and Music Drive New York City Amsterdam and Berlin,” European the Plurality of Views About Art and don: Thames and Hudson, 1990). (Princeton: Princeton University Societies (forthcoming). the Market,” Research in Economic 25  Holger Bonus and Dieter Ronte, Press, 2007). 39 Ulf Wuggenig, “Attached by an Anthropology 30 (2010): 209–224; “Credibility and Economic Value in 32  Lucia van der Post, “Terms of Umbilical Cord of Gold.” See also Wendy N. Espeland and the Visual Arts,” Journal of Cultural Engagement,” How to Spend It: 40  See, e.g., Chris Anderson, The Long Mitchell L. Stevens, “Commensura- Economics 21 (1997): 103–18. Financial Times Weekend Magazine, Tail: Why the Future of Business tion as a Social Process,” Annual 26  Graw, High Price, 123; Nachoem February 27, 2010. Is Selling Less of More (New York: Review of Sociology 24 (1998): M. Wijnberg and Gerda Gemser, 33  See also Graw, High Price. Hyperion, 2005). 313–43. “Adding Value to Innovation: Impres- 34  Diana Crane, “Reflections on the 35 41 David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard, 20 Quoted in Raya Mamarbachi, Marc sionism and the Transformation of Global Art Market,” 352. The Future of Music: Manifesto for Day, and Giampiero Favato, “Art as the Selection System in Visual Arts,” 35 Poly International, China’s main the Digital Music Revolution (Bos- an Alternative Investment Asset,” Organization Science 11, no. 3 auction house, dominates the local ton: Berklee Press, 2005).

48 49 —42 For a critical discussion of the cura- — 1996); or Kathleen M. O’Neil, “Bring- tor’s role and current intermediation ing Art to Market: The Diversity of practices, see Maria Lind, “Green- Pricing Styles in a Local Art Market,” house Tomatoes and Outdoor Toma- Poetics 36, no. 1 (2008): 94–113. toes,” The Exhibitionist, no. 3 (Janu- 47 Paul Ardenne and Michel Vale, ary 2011): 47–53; Maria Lind, “4/10 “The Art Market in the 1980s,” Why Mediate Art? Ten Fundamental International Journal of Political Questions of Curating,” Mousse 28 Economy 25, no. 2 (1995): 100–28; (April/May 2011). Olav Velthuis, Talking Prices. 43 Olav Velthuis, “Circuits of Com- 48 Takato Hiraki et al., “How did merce,” in International Encyclo- Japanese Investments Influence pedia of Economic Sociology, eds. International Art Prices?,” Journal of Jens Beckert and Milan Zafirovski Financial and Quantitative Analysis (London: Routledge, 2006), 57–58; 44, no. 6 (2009): 1489–514. Viviana A. Zelizer, “Circuits of Com- 49 Michael C. Fitzgerald, Making Mod- merce,” in Self, Social Structure, ernism: Picasso and the Creation and Beliefs: Explorations in Sociol- of the Market for Twentieth-Century ogy, eds. Jeffrey C. Alexander, Gary Art (New York: Farrar, Straus and T. Marx, and Christine L. Williams Giroux, 1995). (Berkeley: University of California 50  Reitlinger is quoted in Noah Press, 2004), 122–44. Horowitz, Art of the Deal; on the 44 On boundary work, see Michèle Times art index, see Philip Hensher, Lamont and Virág Molnár, “The “Culture Comment: When Even the Study Of Boundaries Across The Most Monstrous Works of Art Cost Social Sciences,” Annual Review of Millions, It’s Time For a Price Crash,” Sociology 28 (2002): 167–95; see Guardian, February 13, 2006; see also Olav Velthuis, Talking Prices: also Alexander Alberro, Conceptual Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Art and the Politics of Publicity Market for Contemporary Art (Princ- (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004) eton: Princeton University Press, for a discussion of art investment in 2005). the 1960s. 45 On the video art circuit see, e.g., 51  Richard Armstrong et al., 1989 Gareth Harris, “Moving pictures,” Biennial Exhibition: Whitney Financial Times, October 11, 2011; Museum of American Art (New York: Noah Horowitz, Art of the Deal: W.W. Norton, 1989), 10. Contemporary Art in a Global Finan- 52  Cf. William Goetzmann et al., “Art cial Market (Princeton: Princeton and Money.” University Press, 2011). 53  Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cul- 46 On the notion of commodity phase, tural Production. see Arjun Appadurai, “Introduction,” 54  See, e.g., John Sinclair, Elizabeth in The Social Life of Things; on the Jacka, and Stuart Cunningham, low income of contemporary artists, New Patterns in Global Television: see Hans Abbing, Why Are Artists Peripheral Vision (Oxford: Oxford Poor?: The Exceptional Economy University). of the Arts (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2002); on art col- lecting, see Ulf Wuggenig, “Attached by an Umbilical Cord of Gold”; for a general account of “ordinary” art markets, see, e.g., Stuart Plattner, High Art Down Home: An Economic Ethnography of a Local Art Market (Chicago: Chicago University Press,

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